February 2011: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has developed a package of models for climate change impact assessment studies at the national level called FAO-MOSAICC (Modelling System for Agricultural Impacts of Climate Change), which integrates four models related to downscaling global circulation model data, hydrology, crop growth and assessing impacts of crop yields on national economies.

The objective of the system is to assess the impacts of changing crop yields on national economies in order to develop effective adaptation strategies. The system will be rolled out in national institutions in two pilot African countries in 2011 and will be accompanied by significant capacity building and training. On 17-18 February 2011, a two day workshop took place at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy to update partners on the project’s status and discuss opportunities for deployment. The FAO-MOSAICC project emerged from a joint study with the World Bank in 2007 to assess impacts of climate change on 50 crops in Morocco. [FAO-MOSAICC Website]